New Delhi, Jul 1 (IANS): Even as northwestern India facing an intense heat wave, weather officials on Thursday said that monthly rainfall for July over the country, as a whole, is most likely to be normal.

According to the India Meteorological Department's National Weather Forecasting Centre's Southwest Monsoon Rainfall Forecast, the monthly rainfall over the country as a whole in July is most likely to be normal (94 to 106 per cent of the Long Period Average).

The latest global model forecasts indicate that the prevailing neutral El Nino-Southern Oscillation conditions are likely to continue over the equatorial Pacific Ocean and that there is enhanced possibility of development of negative Indian Ocean Dipole conditions over the Indian Ocean during July to September.

As sea surface temperature conditions over the Pacific and the Indian Oceans are known to have strong influence on the Indian monsoon, IMD is carefully monitoring the evolution of sea surface conditions over these ocean basins.